Tripolitania (redirected from Tripolitanians)

Tripolitania (trĭp'əlĭtā`nēə), historic region, W Libya, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. Tripoli is the chief city. The original inhabitants of the region were probably Berbers. In the 7th cent. B.C. the Phoenicians established colonies on the coast at Leptis, Oea (later Tripoli), and Sabratha. The coastal zone was later held by Carthage and was taken by Numidia in 146 B.C. Rome captured Tripolitania in 46 B.C., and in the following centuries, as Roman rule was extended far into the south, the region prospered as a trade and agricultural center. In A.D. 435, Tripolitania fell to the Vandals, and it was captured by the Byzantines a century later. In the 7th cent. the Arabs gained control of Tripolitania, and from the 9th to the 11th cent. numerous Arabs settled there. The Normans briefly held the region in the mid-12th cent., and from the mid-13th to the mid-15th cent. Tripolitania was ruled from Tunisia. The Ottoman Turks captured the region in 1553 and it became a stronghold of Barbary pirates. For later history, see Libya.

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Tripolitania

Historical region, North Africa. It is now part of northwestern Libya. Colonized by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC, it was named for its three chief cities—Leptis Magna, Oea (Tripoli), and Sabrata. It comprised the eastern part of Carthaginian territory by the 3rd century BC and came under Numidian chieftains in the mid-2nd century BC. After the Numidian War (46 BC), it was attached to the Roman province of Africa Nova (see Roman Africa). It fell under the Islamic caliphate in the 7th century AD and was ruled by successive Arab and Berber (Amazigh) dynasties before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in 1551. The region gained its independence in 1711. As part of the Barbary Coast, corsairs operating from there plundered shipping in the Mediterranean Sea, leading to the Tripolitan War with the U.S. (1801–05). It came under Ottoman administration again in 1835. The Italians acquired the region in 1912, and it was the scene of fierce fighting between British and German forces during the North Africa campaigns (1942–43) of World War II. In 1951, with the provinces of Cyrenaica and Fezzan, it formed the independent kingdom of Libya; the provinces were dissolved in 1963.